Rescue Plan spending

Other Northwest Arkansas governments are beginning to spend American Rescue Plan money. They include:

• Benton County will receive $54 million. The Quorum Court has voted to buy 85 body cameras for sheriff’s deputies and update 60 cameras in patrol vehicles, costing $663,000 in total; pay county employees premium payments of $2,000 for full-time employees and $1,000 for part-time employees at a cost of $1.5 million; pay the same amounts for staff of the Beaver Lake and Northeast Benton County volunteer fire departments for $90,000; match other state funding for volunteer fire department improvements at $253,517; and pay $1 million to replace the original heating and air-conditioning rooftop units at the jail that opened in 1999.

• Bentonville will receive $6.94 million. The City Council has discussed one-time payments of $2,000 to full-time city employees and $1,000 to part-time employees. The estimated cost is $1.5 million.

• Fayetteville will receive $17.9 million. The city dedicated $400,000 to offer a $100 incentive for complete immunization. The program ended Friday, and unused money will be returned to the relief act money, reported Lisa Thurber, communications and marketing director for the city.

• Rogers will receive $11.6 million. The council has approved $69,908 to join the Northwest Arkansas Council’s covid-19 vaccination and public information campaign.

• Washington County will receive $27 million. The Quorum Court has approved expenditures of $250,000 each for architectural work for expansions of the Washington County Detention Center and the Juvenile Justice Center.